[source] 809 - “Non-Compete Clause” Written by: Kim Beyer-Johnson "Applejack and Rainbow Dash take the friendship students on a teamwork learning field trip, and accidentally show the students the opposite… (More)

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We went to a gem harvest and a Thanksgiving episode broke out. Steven has his autumn visit to Peridot and Lapis where they are raising a farm. The vegetables don’t come to life, though, until Steven creates a pet pumpkin for the pair. All of sudden, a crusty pilot arrives and claims the barn. Greg and the Crystal Gems arrive on the scene and it turns out to be Greg’s cousin Andy and they used to be part of a flying team called the Flying DeMayo’s.

Andy, or “Uncle Andy” to Steven, eventually calms down and comes around to what’s going on by throwing a party. It turns out to be a pseudo-Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, the vegetables (that aren’t like Veggie Head), and cake. However, Andy then goes away again giving Peridot and Lapis the barn after feeling out of place. Steven follow him and asks him to come back. It turns out that the rest of Andy’s family all went their separate ways leaving just him to carry on the act—when he could’ve used his plane to visit the rest of his family. He does come back for the party and we’ll see if he becomes a recurring character.

This was a surprising episode. We get a family member on Greg’s side this time and at first he’s like the “conservative relative” that seems to always bring up something political as evidenced by calling Peridot and Lapis hippies at first. However, as Steven is ever the peacemaker, Andy shows a lighter side and goes with the flow. It is relatable for people to get bitter when everything around them changes and it’s not to their liking. That’s what we got with Andy as he only focused on the act and hasn’t seen Greg in over 20 years. Overall, though, he makes for an interesting character and likely one we’ll see again.

Again, there was no clue that this was actually going to be a holiday episode, but that is what we have there and it’s actually quite a heartwarming one. If there’s anything to take issue with, it’s that the dialogue at the table was very corny and awkward amongst the Gems. Outside of that, everyone was likable in this episode and surprises everyone by being more slice-of-life than the adventure that “Bismuth” became. Steven Universe is back and for that, we are very thankful.